Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Russell M. Nelson's Recollection of Spencer W. Kimball and His Wife During the February-March 1996 South Pacific Area Conference

While recollecting events during the South Pacific Area Conference, February-March 1976, Russell M. Nelson recalled the following about President Kimball and his wife which sheds light onto their characters:

 

From New Zealand we went to Fiji, for the area conference in Suva. The auditorium was so hot! I’m sure it was over 100 degrees. Sister Kimball was really very ill, and yet she sat on the front row like a soldier in spite of her fever and misery. She was anxious to give visible, tangible evidence of support for her husband and for the cause. More than a thousand people were present, many of whom had come from the remote islands of the Fijian group and from island chains even beyond, such as the Gilbert Island.

 

After the meeting was over, Brother Haycock and I approached President Kimball with the intention of ushering him immediately to the car that was waiting outside to transport him and Sister Kimball to the hotel as expeditiously as possible. But with the power of Samsom, President Kimball pushed Brother Haycock and me aside and broke into the crowd of a thousand people who were there, and he proceeded to shake hands with every one of them. He seemed to sense my concern for his physical well-being, but he replied later that those people had come by boat and canoe to be in that meeting and see the prophet, and he wasn’t going to let a single one of them leave without shaking hands with him if it was their desire to do so. This is just one more example of President Kimball’s habit of placing his thoughtful concern for the Saints above any personal considerations. (Russell M. Nelson, From Heart to Heart: An Autobiography [Salt Lake City: Quality Press, Inc., 1979], 181)